Monday. AM. Metcon, 15-12-9 of: hang power clean (50kg), hspu, burpee. Skills, 5x50 du. Ring skills. PM. Rowing and mobility.
Christmas is coming and I'm having two weeks of free time. My plan is to hit it twice a day on most of the weekdays. On Christmas eve it's gonna be a day off but other than that I'm planning to get the most out of this time. One setback has occurred though. My back is killing me. It's due to those deadlift sets I completed last Thursday… Yes, it's been days since pulling from the ground but my back is still sore.
Metcon.
15-12-9 of:
Hang power clean, 50kg
Handstand push-ups
Burpee
Back definitely was an issue today. I was supposed to meet Toni in Liikuntamylly for a long session but my training partner slept in late =) Morning's agenda was kind of Monday Monster Mash type of workout. Three-piece workout of intervals. That didn't happen because my back thought otherwise. Can you believe that 50kg barbell felt heavy to lift from the ground to hips.
Cleans were better but the first pull was awful and got worse by the round. Hspu's were okay but burpees were also painful. Simply couldn't go further. Had to settle my back for a good 15-20 minutes afterwards.
Skills.
5x50 double unders
Ring skills
Little by little it got better and I wanted to practice on my double under skills. It's been long time since doing them so it was about time. Those were supposed to be part of my workout anyway but this worked well too. On some occasions du's went well but there were lots of misses too. I also used rings for skills training, muscle-ups and dips.
Row.
1.000m row
3min rest
2.000m row
3min rest
3.000m row
Went downtown for a long lunch with some colleagues at noon and then headed back home from where I pretty soon went back to the gym with Pauliina. Didn't wanna pressure my back too much so I sat on the concept2 and went after rowing. 1k + 2k + 3k with 3min rest between distances.
My pace was sub 1:50 on the first, sub 1:55 on the second and sub 2:00 on the last 3k row. At that point my butt was numb already =) This was a good replacement for morning's setback.
Accessory & Mobility. I had plenty of time to stretch and mobilize my joints and muscles. I also did some upper body strength in the form of biceps and triceps. On these sessions where I have extra time it might be useful to hit some of this type of accessory work. I know for a fact that having these muscles stronger would transfer to oly lifts too. That's the reasoning behind it.
Monday. Snatch by feeling. Ohs by feeling. Metcon, 6rds of: 6 hang power clean (70kg), 9 hspu, 12 high box jumps. Time, 13.00. Skills, handstand
Training day at Liikuntamylly in the morning. This place is divine! I'm on a holiday now so I'm definitely visiting these spectacular places I don't have access on weekdays. There are some restrictions in the evening times for public but during the daytime there's no problem. I worked on my snatch and ohs but the funniest part was absolutely the metcon and handstand.
Barbell.
Squat snatch
Overhead squat
There was no clear plan this time. There would have been but there's too much to work on in my snatch technique. Had it been for example clean, I know there won't be any misses and they are very consistent. I know I can hit high percentages of my max every single day. Snatch is totally different. That indicates snatch is highly technical movement, especially when done as squat snatch.
Got to keep on doing those reps to improve mobility and speed. The outcome will be strength. At least according to Coach Burgener. Mobility is the key, no doubt. On the lighter snatches it felt like a lot of things fell in to place and I was actually very happy on those. After 50kg it got more challenging and my technique collapsed somewhat. And I have no idea what those knees were doing on some of the reps =) After going by feeling in the beginning I took emom workout at 50-55kg snatch singles in the end.
Decided to continue with overhead squats after this. Just took 50, 60, 70, 80, 70kg reps. Basically they were singles, some were done with a pause in the bottom. Wouldn't probably hurt too much to do those pause squats more often. It really feels like mobility improves on every repetition. My armpits easily face down when I'm in the hole instead of facing forward like they should. There are some tightness in my shoulders I guess. When I'm standing, armpits are forward but when I'm down, they tend to switch more downwards.
Barbell work
Metcon. Time, 13.00
6 rounds of:
6 hang power clean, 70kg
9 handstand push-ups
12 high box jumps
This was a great workout! It is a very small thing but it sure feels great to drop the barbell after a tough set of cleans. It mentally feels good you don't have to bring it down nicely. Just drop it and move forward to handstand push-ups. I did everything in this workout unbroken. None of these elements were easy.
Cleans got tough in the middle of the workout but I fought to get them unbroken. I would have done couple of more rounds ub but they would have definitely been challenging. Breathing was heavy throughout the wod which made everything a little worse.
Handstand push-ups were easy in the beginning but got tough about the same time as cleans, at about mid-workout. I went touch'n'go on the first 4 rounds. Last two rounds I had to stop resting my head to the ground after 6-7 reps before finishing the set.
This box height was a compromise but it was actually great! There were these blocks you can pile on top of each others. One was too low so I got two of them which made it a lot higher than regular 61cm box. The height of this one was around my hips. Had to do the jumps in singles, no way I was rebounding back there. Those really got to my legs and breathing. Great workout!
Skills.
Handstand
Handstand walk
I was about to leave the premises but then realized it's ideal for practicing handstand. My shoulders and wrists felt good so I took couple of tries. First, just trying to find a stable freestanding handstand position, and then hs walk afterwards.
It felt like it went pretty well indeed. It's been a while. This is something I don't do that often. If I had training places like this I'd do it 2-3 times a week for sure! Probably spring and summer will make a difference as it's easy to practice being inverted outdoors too.
Monday. AM: Skills, handstand. Strength, clean & jerk (max PR 102.5kg). Bar complex, 3 sets of: 1 squat clean, 3 split jerk (across @ 80kg). Metcon, 10 rds of: 5 back squat (60kg), 30 du. Time 9.50. PM: Playing outdoors.
First day of my holiday and straight to Liikuntamylly. It was a tough day there, lots of action going on. Skills, strength, technique and metcon to crown the training day. Personal record also saw the daylight. Could have I asked for more. Don't think so! In the evening we went for a walk with Pauliina and I had the chance to play a little in the woods.
Skills.
Handstand
Handstand walk
It's been some time since I was walking with my hands last time. It felt pretty good and natural. I'm very happy about it. I was afraid in the autumn what would happen to my newly learned skills during the winter time as it's difficult to find a place where to practice this particular skill set. Last spring / summer I did quite a lot of handstand outdoors on grass but having the ground filled with snow it's a bit different thing. Below you'll see how it went today.
Handstand skills
Strength.
Clean & Jerk, max out
5x60, 3x70, 2x80, 1x90, 1x95, 1x100, 1x102.5kg PR
My upper body was tight from last two days of training. Somehow it was stiff already yesterday evening and not any better as I woke up today. I tried to loosen it up by hanging from a pull-up bar at home. My goal today was to try some max efforts on clean & jerks. That's because Liikuntamylly is a place where you dare to push the limits. You can drop the barbell if you fail to lift it. Bringing 100k nicely to the front rack isn't a simple thing when you're at the limits. So it's safer to just drop it. That's why I tend to go to max when training at Liikuntamylly.
Did some traditional bar warm-up, good mornings, clean pulls, power cleans, front squats, push press, back squat and press behind the neck. The usual stuff. Then some more of cleans to get ready. Couple of clean & jerks with 40kg as well. Then I started working towards the heavier sets. The 60kg set I went in touch'n'go style, then I took singles all the way to the end. The clean part wasn't much of a thing. It was more of the jerk part that made this movement more challenging. It started to become a little wobbling at around 95kg. I'm not entirely satisfied in my technique on the 100+ weights but I'm definitely happy I got them up and a new record was born!
Barbell work recap
Complex.
3 working sets of:
1 squat clean + 3 split jerk
Across @ 80kg
This was supposed to concentrate more on jerk technique than anything else. My elbows started to become a bit sore - actually they came sore already on the c&j's - so instead of completing 5 sets I had to stop after 3 sets. Didn't want to risk anything. The pain wasn't feeling good. The weight itself was not heavy but I wasn't right on it with my technique today. I was pushing the bar too much forward, not straight upwards. Plus the feet work, not the most beautiful lunge I have seen. Still, the load itself was moving easily and that's always a positive sign! There was a time when 80kg was my max load shoulder-to-overhead so in these moments it's important to cherish those moments =)
Metcon round times
Metcon. Time 9.50
10 rounds of:
5 back squats, 60kg, from rack
30 double unders
After letting my elbows recover for a while I came up with a metcon where elbows wouldn't play the main role. Back squats and double unders. That turned out to be a great combo for a metcon. Main goal of this metcon was indeed to work on the metabolic conditioning. Keep that body moving no matter how you feel. Just bare with it and focus on the next rep.
And I was able to complete that task. As you see from the round times it was a solid effort from the beginning to the end. Naturally the back squat wasn't that heavy, it wasn't the purpose of it. It was supposed to fatigue my legs a bit and let the double unders finish the man. I got the double unders unbroken if you don't count the very first set where I had a miss after 2 reps =) After that it was a smooth sail at the sea.
Metcon, all but the last about 10 du's
Plus I believe my form was quite good on the double unders. Somehow I might be able to make it more economical, not to burn myself that much. Maybe circulating the rope a little faster so I wouldn't have to do that much work with my legs. I don't know, I feel pretty good about it. If you have tips, feel free to give 'em. I'll absorb it.
Anyways, this was a good workout where I got to keep breathing under control throughout the workout. It was about 50+ seconds per round. I walked to my timer between rounds just to tap on the clock and see how my round times look like afterwards. There I lost couple of seconds per round but that's a small thing.
It was an awesome training session at Liikuntamylly, no doubt! First of all, handstand skills, one of my favorites! Then PR in clean & jerk + some bar complex work. And the metcon was the cherry over the cake, my kind of training day.
Constant variety.
Wall climbs, 15 reps
We went to the woods for a recovery walk. Somehow we ended up at this wooden wall that I've had one encounter before. Even though it's not that high you still have to do surprisingly lot of work to get over it. At least it gets to the breathing in no time. Entire body is in tension when doing work. But most of all, this was fun! It was something like 15+ reps on the wall.
Friday. Skills, muscle-ups. Metcon, half Murphy: 800m run, 10 rounds of Cindy, 800m run. For completion.
Last day of holiday so it was definitely a drive to Liikuntamylly once more. It was an easier day for a reason. I wasn't ready to hit another tough day with heavy barbells. So I stayed at skills and a metcon of running and bodyweight movements. It was a good decision, that's for sure.
Skills.
Ring muscle-ups
Bar muscle-ups
I was prepared to work on the rings longer than normally and hit several reps. One thing I've noticed though. When my body is tired, I find it difficult to get any reps done on the rings. Bar mu's, no problem, but ring mu's are very challenging. Today was one of those days. The only reason I didn't take a rest day, is because I had the possibility to come to Liikuntamylly. It's a rarity so I definitely ain't gonna skip it! And I'm glad I came. It was just too much for my body on the rings. I took a couple of misses and then focused on the bar muscle-ups.
Metcon. For completion
800m run
50 pull-ups
100 push-ups
150 squats
800m run
You can partition the movements as you wish
I took it without any stress today and completed a bodyweight metcon. Murphy is a her workout, 1 mile run, 20 rounds of Cindy followed by another 1 mile run. That's rough. I decided to make it a half Murphy, cutting the number of reps and meters to half. 800m run on both ends of the workout and then 10 rounds of Cindy. In Murphy you can partition the 100 pull-ups, 200 push-ups and 300 squats as you like. I've understood people traditionally run them through as a 20-round Cindy, a.k.a. 5 pull-ups, 10 push-ups and 15 squats per round, a total of 20 rounds.
This metcon felt better than I thought. I wasn't so gassed and it didn't feel as bad as I thought it might. That was a great surprise. I did this for completion, not for time, didn't have a timer running, no idea how much it took.
Recap
It has been an awesome week. My holiday weeks tend to be the best training days as the opportunities are endless and I get to work on my oly lifts in places that are normally out of reach. I saw a PR in Grace earlier this week. I was also able to practice on my handstand skills and bar muscle-ups. It was also cool to mix running into my workouts, in metcons and as intervals, love it! In other words, I worked on my weaknesses.
Different type of training for this Saturday. We headed to a sports center called Liikuntamylly in eastern Helsinki together with Toni to perform something a bit different. We've never been to this place but the training possibilities are spectacular to say the least. At first we were a bit disappointed because the main weightlifting area was reserved to a team and thus restricted access. So we had to change our plans and to the regular gym in Liikuntamylly.
Sled
Toni did bench presses, I concentrated in bodyweight movements, especially dips and handstand push-ups. I didn't count the reps but there were numerous sets between 3-5 reps. I'd say there were plenty of them. In addition I took dip sets 10+15+20 reps.
For about 20 minutes we did thorough mobility training with Toni. It was very useful because lately we have forgotten to do them properly. We must pay attention to our mobility, elasticity and flexibility constantly. Especially as we are lifting heavy weights all the time we must do mobility to prevent injuries.
As we were ready to leave the place after a semi training session we got to sneak to the weightlifting area and I'm telling you we were like kids in a candy store for the first time. The area was simply perfect. A lot of racks, barbells, plates, sled, wall balls etc. I decided to run with sled, Toni PR'd his deadlift!
Sled. God damn I fell in love with this bastard! It's awesome leg burner :) I have no idea how much I should put weights in that sled, today I had 20+15+15 plates on it, in addition to the sled itself. I guess there should be somewhere around 80-100kg to make the best of it. This time was more like getting to know each other and next time I'll take full advantage of this toy. I believe there were 4 sets back and forth this 20-30 meter distance. It was fun!!! I challenge you Toni to join me with this sled next time...
Toni's workouts. He started with bench presses, reaching 95 kilos, singles and doubles. A lot of handstand push-up training and mobility in between. Finally the climax was his deadlift where he reached 160kg and a new record. Up to 140kg his form looked good! In the final two reps the back maybe leaned a bit forward but the determination was huge to get those weights up. And to be honest, I'm sure he could have added plates in the bar and lift heavier weights but it was smart not to compromise form over new records.
Bench press sets of 95kg, 1-2 reps
Handstand push-ups
Mobility
Deadlift 3-3-1-1-1 (110, 130, 140, 150, PR160kg)
Crossfit announced a winter challenge, quite a workout...
CrossFit - Announcing The Ranch Big Bob Winter Challenge
